THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



August, 19 17 



were seedlings. I left them, they have 

 just bloomed and are all like the dark blue 

 Iris in adjoining bed. I don't see how they 

 have come there unless the seeds were blown 

 by the wind. I have often noticed the seed 

 pods, but never thought of saving the seed. 

 [Iris xiphium is very variable in color, but is 

 perhaps normally blue-purple. — Ed.] I have 

 no trouble in keeping a healthy lot of dark 

 blue Spanish Iris, though many complain 

 of its being short lived. I have several other 

 colors which disappear after a 

 year or two, except one 

 clump, a bright yellow, that 

 has multiplied in three years. 

 There is a well denned vari- 

 ety or sub-species of Spanish 

 Iris that has yellow flowers. 

 — Ed.] They are great favor- 

 ites of mine and I would like 

 to be as successful with the 

 other colors as with the blue. 

 Could there be a difference 

 in the variety? English Iris 

 will last several years but 

 finally disappears. I have so 

 much trouble with moles, I 

 often wonder if they have 

 anything to do with the dis- 

 appearance of the Iris. 



I plant Asters in between 

 Spanish Iris after its season 

 is over, and so far it has done 

 no harm. The Asters last such 

 a short time, they are out of 

 the way by the time the Iris 

 makes its fall growth. Next 

 to the bed of Iris are Shirley 

 Poppies, the rich blue of Iris 

 blooming at the same time as 

 the Poppies makes this a 

 bright spot in my garden, 

 perhaps too bright for those 

 who care only for pink, blues, 

 and lavenders. Behind the 

 Poppies I have a large clump 

 of blue Larkspurs, so after 

 the Iris has gone I still have 

 my combination of blue and 

 red; and with white Sweet 

 Williams in the foreground, 

 I have a "patriotic corner" 

 and I thoroughly enjoy 

 "showing my colors." — Bland 

 U. Tomlinson, Tennessee. 



We Love Our Cottontails 

 and prefer to protect all 

 young trees and shrubs, 

 rather than kill the rabbits. 

 Six inch collars made of sev- 

 eral thicknesses of newspaper, 

 tied firmly to the small trunks 

 of the trees, and the earth then " hilled" up to 

 cover the bottom of these collars, have proved 

 successful in keeping my small trees quite safe 

 from girdling. — L. M., Ohio. 



when fully expanded are from four to four and 

 a half inches across. The flowers are not 

 as showy as the blossoms of the Chinese hy- 

 brid Magnolias, but as this species comes into 

 bloom earlier it is therefore of much interest. 



The leaves are ovate-lancelate in outline, 

 acuminate at the apex, and wedge-shaped at 

 the base, yellow-green above, pale and smooth 

 beneath, and four to five inches long on young 

 shoots, and pungently fragrant when bruised. 

 The branching habit is distinctly upright, 



Flowers of the new 

 Normally 



Magnolia Salicifolia. — The Willow-leaved 

 Magnolia flowered in the parks here for the 

 first time this spring. The flowers were 

 partly open on April 28th and it was in full 

 bloom on May 10th. The season was fully 

 two weeks late and in ordinary conditions it 

 would probably be in full bloom about April 

 25th. It blooms at the same time as Hall's 

 (Magnolia stellata). The flowers are on short 

 stalks not more than half an inch in length. 

 The six petals are white to cream white, and 

 the sepals greenish white. The flowers be- 

 fore expanding are tubular in outline, and 



Japanese Willow-leaved Magnolia (M. salicifolia) photographed at Rochester N. Y 

 it blooms with Hall's Magnolia and is welcome because of its large bloom 



and it is quite distinctive in this from any 

 other Magnolia, making an oblong compact 

 head. The young branches are olive green, 

 and the trunk and old stems are covered with 

 smooth green bark. Magnolia salicifolia is a 

 native of Japan, and is a most interesting and 

 valuable addition to our parks and gardens. 

 The individual that flowered with us is eight 

 feet high. — John Dunbar, Rochester, N. Y. 



"All to the Good.'' — It seems to be the 

 fashion just now to express one's opinion of the 

 Magazine so may I lay my little tribute at your 

 feet ? I find an immense deal of information in 

 the articles by" Professionals "that appear from 

 time to time, and, unlike Mr. Chamberlain of 

 New York, I think the Magazine might die if 

 it did not have them — to me they are the 



cream of the contents; but I also enjoy the 

 little bits by amateurs. In fact tfre Magazine 

 is so good that I cannot see how any one can 

 have anything but unstinted praise for it. — 

 M. E. Blacklock, Ontario, Can. 



[Nevertheless we hope to improve constantly 

 with the help and advice of our readers. — Ed.] 



Out of Season Transplanting. — I think 

 that C. L. Meller did not go into detail 

 enough in his article on Transplanting out ot 

 Season. This is the way I 

 proceed: Late last spring I 

 found that two small beds of 

 Canterbury Bells were in 

 great need of thinning out. 

 The plants were already a 

 foot or more high and ought 

 not to be sacrificed, either by 

 pulling out or allowing to 

 crowd one another. So I 

 found two round - pointed 

 farm shovels, thrust one deep 

 under a plant and the other 

 to a little more than the same 

 depth into the place where 

 the plant was to go. Then I 

 traded the shovelfuls. The 

 process was repeated at a 

 very rapid rate. Not a plant 

 suffered. One or two drooped 

 a little, but watering quickly 

 restored them. When I was 

 through I had still two beds 

 of undisturbed plants and 

 had gained a long row across 

 a fifty-foot garden. At this 

 writing, July 3, all are burst- 

 ing into scores of flowers, 

 the transplanted ones fully 

 as good as the others. — John 

 W. Chamberlin. 



Flowers Every Month. — If 

 there is any one thing that 

 Cleveland cannot boast of it 

 surely is her climate in the 

 winter. It is raw cold, windy, 

 and sometimes for weeks at a 

 time we hardly see the sun. 

 But notwithstanding all this, 

 I have for many years been 

 able to pick flowers from my 

 garden every month in the 

 year. I have to confess that 

 this January was so cold that 

 I found no flowers, or rather 

 that no one else did — for I 

 was not in the garden during 

 that month. My last garden 

 flowers were the little Pom- 

 pon Chrysanthemums, and 

 "Johnny-jump-ups" picked 

 December eighth, and the Paper White 

 Narcissus had been in bloom in the house 

 quite three weeks before. This is the first 

 time that I have ever made my spring 

 flowering bulbs, and the fall flowers in the 

 garden lap by. While the Paper Whites 

 were still going in January, the Freesias began. 

 They lasted a full month, and then with them 

 and always lapping over a little, came the 

 Roman Hyacinths, the real Daffodils, the 

 Dutch Hyacinths, blue Scillas. On the twen- 

 tieth of February we found our first Snow- 

 drops, and since then there have always been 

 a few flowers in the garden. For almost a 

 month the Snowdrops had it to themselves, 

 but then came Crocuses and blue Scillas 

 as well. 



About the middle of January we are likely 



